


The Only Partner I've Ever Wanted

by nychus



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Ballroom Dancing, Dancing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:22:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26312572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nychus/pseuds/nychus
Summary: Noctis tries not to think too hard about why he can only learn these dances with Ignis as his partner.
Relationships: Noctis Lucis Caelum/Ignis Scientia
Comments: 8
Kudos: 58





	The Only Partner I've Ever Wanted

**Author's Note:**

  * For [beetroot_of_doubt](https://archiveofourown.org/users/beetroot_of_doubt/gifts).



> Another prompt from Twitter. Beetroot_of_Doubt gave me:
> 
> "Learning to dance" could give you some interesting opportunities with our favorite pair”
> 
> So, I learned about some different types of ballroom dancing and came up with this. <3

“This is dumb, I’ll never get it,” Noctis complained as he stepped on his teacher’s foot for the hundredth time that lesson.

“You would learn it if actually put in some effort,” Mrs. Blake scolded as she correctly positioned Noctis and started moving again. This was their third lesson in a week and Noctis hadn’t improved at all. Maybe it’s because he didn’t want to improve; he didn’t want to learn how to dance. If he couldn’t dance, then he couldn’t be dragged out into the ballroom by random daughters of nobles who were itching to get into his good graces.

And probably his pants, a thought that always made Noctis cringe. He was still sixteen and therefore underage, but that didn’t seem to bother these young women who were in their early 20s. Noctis was so much younger than all the ‘approved’ women (approved by whom, he didn’t know; it certainly wasn’t him and he didn’t think it was his father) and it was kind of gross. He was still in high school and some of these women had degrees. They wouldn’t look twice at him if he wasn’t the prince. Just another reason why he hated his title.

A light knock on the door halted the lesson and Noctis sent a short prayer to the gods to thank them for sending Ignis. This meant he could get out of this nonsense.

The teacher went to speak to Ignis while Noctis gathered his things. He didn’t know what they were discussing, but it was likely Noctis’s inability to learn. He got no clue from Ignis’s facial expressions because the older teen had none anymore. It was annoying not being able to tell what Ignis was thinking or even being able to guess his mood.

They said their goodbyes and Mrs. Blake reminded Noctis she’d see him tomorrow before walking out the door. Ignis turned to look at Noctis and the prince remembered there was one expression that was still there: disappointment.

“Three lessons and no improvement?” Ignis asked. “Highness, this isn’t as difficult as you’re making it.”

Noctis glared. “Oh, I’m sorry,” he sarcastically apologized. “I’m sorry that I don’t want to be trained to just be tossed to the wolves.”

“Highness,” Ignis scolded, somehow his face becoming even more disappointed.

“If you were the one being forced to dance with all these girls, you wouldn’t like it either.”

“The solution is not to refuse learning. You have to learn or else it’ll only be more and more difficult on you. The more resistance you put up, the more lessons you’ll have, and the less time you’ll have to play video games.”

That got Noctis’s attention. He really didn’t want to have lessons keep piling up on him. But he really didn’t want to learn from Mrs. Blake. He didn’t know why there seemed to be a mental block whenever it came to her teachings, but there was.

Music started playing and Noctis left his thoughts to see that Ignis had turned the stereo back on. He watched as his chamberlain came to stand in front of him and hold out his hand. Noctis stared at it for a second, watched the fingers wiggle in a ‘please take it’ sort of way, and took it. In a flash, Ignis had him correctly positioned and stepping in time to the polonaise.

“I thought you couldn’t dance,” Ignis said as they turned perfectly in time to the music.

“Uh, well,” Noctis muttered, feeling his face alight in embarrassment. What was wrong with him?

They ran through the steps a few times with Noctis actually remembering where he was supposed to go, when to turn and bow. Once Ignis was satisfied that Noctis knew what he was doing, he stopped, and took his hand back. There was a strange sense of loss when Noctis was no longer holding Ignis’s hand.

“Do that tomorrow with Mrs. Blake and I’m sure your lessons will be less frequent,” Ignis told him with an encouraging smile. “Unfortunately, I must run to meet with Uncle, but you did well Noct.”

Ignis left and Noctis stood in the empty room very confused and with an awkward boner.

~*~*~*~*~

Once he’d mastered the polonaise, he moved on to the mazurka. There wasn’t a big difference in the two dances and so it should have been an easy transition. Noctis managed to have troubles with it until Ignis ran him through the steps one day and he suddenly just got it.

The same happened with the minuet. Mrs. Blake couldn’t get Noctis to get it but as soon as Ignis offered to help, it all clicked.

Noctis stopped trying to analyze why he always got flustered whenever Ignis took his hand and danced with him. He did his best not to think about it because, deep down, he was pretty sure he knew what it meant. And he really didn’t want to think about what it meant.

At least the dances weren’t anything more than a light hand hold. It meant that Noctis’s weird boners weren’t ever felt by Ignis and he didn’t have to get too close to any of the young women he had to dance with.

Then he was told that he would be expected to dance the waltz at his 18th birthday ball.

Noctis tried really, REALLY hard to learn the dance with Mrs. Blake. The last thing he needed was to be that close to Ignis’s body with these godsdamned erections that just wouldn’t stop happening when he was in close, physical contact with Ignis. He was basically 18! Why was his body still acting like a hormonal teenager?

The ball was held two days after his birthday, on a Saturday night. He was looking forward to it as much as he looked forward to any of these events. Less so because it was specifically about him. The Crown Prince of Lucis has come of age! Ladies be the first to dance with him! Ladies be the one to catch his eye! Ladies, ladies, ladies!

Noctis tossed his phone across the bed. It was the morning of the ball and he’d confined himself to his old rooms in the Citadel. All the news sites, reputable and not, were talking about nothing but the ball tonight. Even his social media feed, which mostly consisted of video game developers and movie stars, were talking about nothing else.

All anyone was asking was which young lady would the prince latch on to? Who would be the lucky girl to spend most of his dances with him?

There was a knock on the door. It opened to reveal Ignis once Noctis yelled to come in.

“I don’t want to do it,” Noctis said, playing the petulant prince well. “I don’t want to go and dance with all these women that I don’t care about.”

“You can’t know you don’t care about them until you meet them,” Ignis pointed out.

“My non-existent porn history would disagree,” Noctis muttered. He wasn’t looking at Ignis and so didn’t know what the reaction would be. He hadn’t exactly discussed his sexuality with his oldest friend, but he had a feeling that Ignis had guessed.

Noctis, for his part, had guessed as well, but he was afraid to have confirmation.

“At least it’s non-existent,” was all Ignis said.

Ignis had come to fix Noctis lunch in the little kitchenette in his rooms and then help him get ready for the evening. The prince sulked while Ignis busied himself in the kitchen and they at in silence for most of the meal.

“Are you ready to waltz tonight?” Ignis asked. Noctis shrugged. “Mrs. Blake has said you picked it up fairly quickly but you aren’t as proficient in it as you were the others.”

He shrugged again. “I know it well enough, I guess.”

“Would you like to run through it? One last time for practice?”

His mind said ‘not really’ but his heart really wanted the chance. A few minutes later, Ignis had cleared a space in the sitting area and turned on a waltz from his phone.

They danced. Noctis led, spinning them around the room in time with the music. The waltz wasn’t so bad with Ignis as his partner and how he wished Ignis could BE his partner, in more than just this dance. Too bad there was no plausible situation that Noctis could see where that would be true.

Suddenly, Noctis was pulled from his thoughts as Ignis hijacked the lead, taking control of their movements. It was easy to follow and Noctis assumed he wanted a little last-minute practice as well.

Then the song ended and Ignis lowered him into a slight dip. They stared at each other, catching their breaths. Noctis watched as Ignis’s eyes darted between his own. He wondered if Ignis could see the pleading of ‘just kiss me’ but he was afraid to hope.

And then Ignis lowered his face to Noctis’s and their lips touched briefly. Startled, but happy, Noctis watched as Ignis drew back, eyes worried he’d overstepped his boundaries, but hopeful. Noctis grinned and righted himself so that he could take hold of Ignis’s face and kiss him properly.

“I’d always hoped you learned to dance better with me because you wanted me to be your partner,” Ignis confessed as they stood there, resting is forehead on Noctis’s.

Noctis laughed. “You’re the only partner I’ve ever wanted.”


End file.
